The Effect of Mechanical Vibration and Helfer Skin Tap Technique on Procedural Pain in Healthy Infants During Intramuscular Vaccination: a Randomized Controlled Study

Vaccination is one of the painful procedures routinely performed in infants. The pain experienced by the infant negatively affects the prognosis of the disease, the infant's behavior, the harmony with the environment, the development of the brain and senses, as well as the family infant interaction. Nonpharmacologic methods have been found to be effective in alleviating pain during interventions that cause pain caused by medical procedures that infants frequently encounter. Mechanical vibration and Helfer skin tap technique are effective methods that can be used in nonpharmacologic procedural pain management.

Studies have commonly used parent-related methods (kangaroo care, mother/ father cuddling, breastfeeding, etc.) for neonatal pain management during vaccine administrations. In units where access to the parent is not always possible, nonpharmacologic pain methods that can be used independently of the parent can be used in the management of needle related acute pain. In addition, no study was found in the literature comparing the effect of mechanical vibration and Helfer skin tap technique on hepatitis B and DTaP-IPV-Hib vaccinations-related pain. This study will be investigated the effects of mechanical vibration and Helfer skin tap technique methods on procedural pain, crying time and duration of the procedure during intramuscular vaccinations in healthy term infants.